Executive Board
REGGIE SMITH
Reggie is President of the National Football League Players Association, Chicago ( NFLPA) and the Vice President of Business Development for Retrofit Weight Loss, LLC.
Reggie was born and raised by his grandparents in Englewood, Chicago and attended Chicago Vocational High School. He received a full scholarship to the University of Kansas where he was named a Football News Sophomore All-American.
In a six year professional career, played for NFL Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and USFL Tampa Bay Bandits.
Reggie has served as Chair of the Trustee Board of AMI Infinity Schools. He currently serves as an advisory board member of the Sports Leadership Institute and the Illinois Brain Injury Association and is a member of the Chicago Concussion Coalition. Reggie has been an active volunteer with programs for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Reggie lives in Naperville with his wife and three children.
BRANDON JUNG
Brandon Jung has had a lifelong pursuit to develop and refine the leadership, management and strategic vision necessary to lead dynamic and innovative commercial, international or non-profit organizations with ongoing focus on establishing micro-enterprises in east Asia.
Currently, Brandon is at Google leading the North Central region in the Enterprise Cloud arena
Previously, he served as Cloud and Technology Services Principal for Financial Services for IBM. Prior to this Brandon held a wide variety of positions with IBM including North American Lead for Competitive Strategy, M&A Strategy, Lead for the Kellogg/Northwestern Alumni Association for IBM, Client Executive covering American Express, ABN, AMRO, Northern Trust, TransUnion, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brother, and NY Life.
Brandon holds a Kellogg MBA with concentrations in Marketing Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Management and Organizations. He earned his undergraduate degree in Finance and Computer Science from the University of Oklahoma and was a National Merit Scholar, Summa Cum Laude
JEROME BRYANT
During his career Jerome has served as CIO of Fortune 50, 100, and 500 companies as well as Co-founder and Managing Partner of a global IT consulting group. He has established and directed highly successful, multi-million dollar consulting programs, planned and carried out the start-up of new businesses. Jerome holds a BS in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, and is currently pursuing an Executive MBA at Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management.
Jerome has partnered with corporate leaders across a wide spectrum and developed enterprise level solutions; optimized business processes; and achieved operational objectives while increasing profitability and shareholder value. Setting a tone of enthusiasm and creating positive energy has allowed Jerome to excel and thrive. Jerome brings a competitive spirit to the team, building, developing and implementing winning strategies.
Today, Jerome Bryant resides with his wife and child in Matteson, IL.
DOROTHY HILLARD
Programming Committee
Chicago Public School Principal, Ret.
Dorothy Hillard is a retired Chicago Public Schools Principal, administrator, counselor and teacher. She served the CPS for 37 years. Dorothy served in various leadership positions involving support for school improvement, assessment of student learning, research and interpretation of findings on policy issues and school reviews.
Dorothy worked with various federal, state and local mandated programs, including, Schools in Crisis, Teacher Accountability, School Improvement Planning, and No Child Left Behind.
The Honorable Jesse Brown, Dorothy’s brother is the former Secretary of Veterans Affairs under President Bill Clinton. Dorothy has been married for 37 years to Terry Hillard, former Police Superintendent of the City of Chicago and Co- Founder of the strategic security advisory firm, HillardHeintze,LLC.
GEETA SINGH
Programming Committee
Executive Director, Bin Donated
Geeta brings over two decades of executive management, strategic business development and finance experience. She spent the first part of her career at Allstate and ABN AMRO (International), focusing on financial/strategic planning, merger and acquisitions and corporate advisory. In her second half, she switched gears and worked with smaller organizations and startups that covered various sectors including real estate, off-shoring companies and hospitality. She has also worked a real estate development firm in the acquisition of a casino and then post-integration and management of the non-casino hotel operations.
In leadership positions, her roles and responsibilities included strategy development and execution, developing strategic partnerships, marketing as well as management of departments and cross-functional teams. Recently, she has consulted with non-profits in the areas of strategy and business development. In addition to running Bin Donated, she serves on the board of NEXT Theatre Co and provides strategic advisory to organizations.
CORTEZ ALEXANDER
Student Representative
DePaul University
Cortez Alexander graduated from Michele Clark Magnet High School on Chicago’s Westside. While in high school, he served in various leadership positions ranging from president to vice-president. In addition, he served as his school’s International Baccalaureate Ambassador. Currently Cortez is an International Honors student at DePaul University majoring in International Relations
Cortez was a Dreams for Kids: Dream Leader and served as a Dream Leader Facilitator in 2009. During his senior year, Cortez accumulated over 300 community service hours, which ranged from public speaking to interacting with underrepresented youth in Chicago. He volunteers with World Chicago where he serves as the International Youth Ambassador, interacting with all international youth delegations from different countries such as Iraq, Serbia, and the United Kingdom. Cortez has been featured on CNN regarding his role in changing perceptions of youth from Iraq and created a blog titled “Breaking Perceptions” which is dedicated to enhancing international understanding between countries.
SAM HILL
Sam is a graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in Family Consumer Sciences. He grew up in the inner city of Chicago, Illinois where he was a high school All American. A record setting athlete at Iowa State, Sam led the team to the “ Sweet 16” in the 1986 NCAA Championship. He was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks and played professional ball in the NBA and in several countries.
Sam has worked extensively with at-risk youth. He has run youth programs and basketball camps and also had extensive experience in public relations, fundraising, donor sponsorship and community outreach. He is the co-founder of M.A.D.E. , a non-profit organization that provides mentoring and leadership skills. Sam served as Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club in Michigan City and provided management services to the Chicago Urban League.
Sam currently resides in Savoy, Illinois and is a proud father of three young adults.
ALAN LANDRY
The owner of ALtuitive Holdings, LLC, Alan served as Director of Business Development and Strategy for a $5 billion/year aerospace defense business, and $1 billion/year land combat product line.
While at Raytheon, Alan also served as a Raytheon Diversity and Inclusion “Game Changer “and was the Director of Economic Development for the City of El Paso.
Over his decorated 26-year military career, Col. Landry is the recipient of the Army Legion of Merit award and Bronze Star, having served as Army Chief of Staff in support of NATO peace operations in Kosovo, Battalion Commander for Operation Desert Watch in Saudi Arabia and Chief of War Plans for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Iraq and Kuwait.
A graduate of West Point Military Academy Col Landry , with 2 Masters of Military Arts and Science degrees, Col Landry live with his wife of 38 years wife in Alpharreta, Georgia, and is the proud parent of 3 and grandparents of 8.
ALEX FORLOINE
Student Representative
DePaul University
Alex Forloine is in the Honors program of Business Management in his second year at DePaul University.
Alex is a marketing intern with Accenture, organizing events for clients and employees throughout the United States. He also works as a newscaster for Radio DePaul and teaches English at Heartland Alliance, an organization that helps recent immigrants learn English, find jobs, and assimilate into life in the United States.
Alex has been a dedicated Dreams for Kids volunteer, having served as a Dream Leaders facilitator for the students of the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education (ICRE), working to create our Holiday for Hope event and he is currently serving as a member of the board of directors of DePaul University Dreams for Kids Club.
Hometown: Northfield, IL
ms for Kids